GARDEN GROVE : Make English Signs Optional, Panel Says

Planning officials this week unanimously voted to recommend a revised sign ordinance that would make the inclusion of English voluntary instead of required.

The commission had previously recommended an ordinance that said all commercial signs must have enough English to enable police and fire personnel to locate the business in an emergency. But because of protests from Asian merchants who said the requirement was discriminatory, the City Council returned the issue to planners.

After review, commissioners decided to drop the English provisions, over which the Asian Pacific American Legal Center had threatened to sue on constitutional grounds.

“We decided that a voluntary program would be more effective,” said Jerry L. Blum, planning services director.

All that remains of the original English requirement is a paragraph stating the city’s desire to “encourage bilingual signs to communicate in English in order to enable the city and other servicing agencies to identify the business for public health, safety and welfare purposes, and to promote community economic health by broadening market identification.”

The new sign ordinance approved by the commission includes provisions for the improvement or removal of signs that don’t conform to the ordinance, and restrictions on “canned” signs, which are those using a single illuminated panel.

The city is encouraging use of single-channel letter signs--in which each letter is illuminated instead of an entire panel--and requires that new “canned” panel signs be recessed or “architecturally integrated” to be flush with the facade of the building.